SANTIAGO DE CHILE.- Cuban badminton player Osleni Guerrero won the Chile International Series on May 3, after beating Turkish Ramazan Ozturk 21-9 and 21-15. In just 31 minutes, according to the competition website, the athlete from Havana decided the final match, guaranteeing him 2,500 points in the world rankings.
Guerrero, the tournament’s second seed and currently occupying 57th place in the world rankings, saw five victories in the competition. Before reaching the final, he beat Enis Sesalan (Turkey), Misbun Ramdan Mohmed (Malaysia), Mario Cuba (Peru) and Milan Ludik (Czech Republic).
Thus, he improved on his performance at the Peru tournament last April, where he failed to pass the quarter-final stage, losing to Brazilian Ygor Coelho De Oliveira. With this performance the best Cuban badminton player is now third in the Americas, behind Guatemalan Kevin Cordón (49), who in the Chilean competition was defeated as in Peru, and again left without a medal, while Howard Shu (56) from the U.S. was absent from the Chilean tournament.
Guerrero has now secured two titles in the current season, including that won in the 16th Giraldilla Tournament of Havana, in March, after defeating Howard Shu in the final.
Runner-up of the Guadalajara 2011 Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games Veracruz 2014 - in both outdone by Cordón – will now continue with his training in Havana, in preparation for the Trinidad and Tobago International Series, May 21- 24, (2,500 points per winner).
The main objective of the Cuban this year is to improve his position in the world rankings in order to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
